SALE SUMMARY
2019 2018
Offered 123 124
Sold 116 120
Top $22,000 $24,000
Av $9145 $8608
Pathfinder Angus stud's SA bull sale defied the downward seasonal trend with a magical $1.06 million day on Thursday at its Naracoorte complex.
The Moyle family, sold 116 of 123 autumn and spring 2017 drop bulls for a $9145 average - easily the highest average for SA Angus Week.
The sale was up more than $500 on 2018 and the result was their second highest average in the sale's 22-year history.
It was only surpassed by 2017 when the stud notched up a $9336 average.
There were many spectacular highs and more than a third of bulls again made $10,000 or more.
The 42 five-figured bulls were spread throughout the catalogue but the sale's $22,000 high was reached at Lot 34, Pathfinder General N92.
The Ayrvale General G18 son, which was in the top five percent of Breedplan Angus Breeding and heavy grass indexes, sold to long-time client Alistair Just, St Vincents, Sellicks Hill.
"He is the complete package and will complement what we are doing on the farm selling a few bulls locally and selling to the EU feeder market through TFI," Mr Just said.
St Vincents bought three bulls for a $17,333 average.
The $20,000 second highest price was reached twice.
Lot 4, Pathfinder Docklands N211, impressed many in the packed stands with its power and capacity tipping the scales at 1070 kilograms at 23 months of age.
The successful buyer of the AI-bred Carabar Docklands son was David Harvey, King Island.
It was one of five bulls heading to King Island for a $14,800 average.
The other $20,000 bull came late in the catalogue at Lot 117, Pathfinder Discovery N1190.
It was knocked down to the Kelly family,Mooramook, Caramut, Vic, who also bought the top priced bull at Pathfinder's SA sale in 2015.
Discovery N1190 had exceptional figures being in the top 1pc for all growth figures, carcase weight and was the heaviest of the spring 2017 drops at 750kg.
Wendy James-Ross, WV James & Son, Cooranga, Woolumbool,left her mark on the sale with six bulls to $16,000 for a $13,667 average.
They offer an outstanding draft of weaners at Naracoorte each year and Mrs James-Ross said she was looking for easy calving bulls and good structure, particularly good feet.
"We also breed replacement females so we are looking to breed good heifers- a good calf starts with a good mother," she said.
The Woodard family, Peel Pastoral Company, Wrattonbully, again invested heavily with six bulls for a $9833 average.
Andrew Widdison, Kumara SE, Kalangadoo, enjoyed some great buying on the spring drops with his five bulls averaging $6600.
Landmark auctioneer Gordon Wood, who shared the rostrum with veteran Kevin Norris, said it was pleasing to see commercial producers going to $16,000 to $18,000 for their top picks.
"It is good to see they were finding cattle that suited their needs and were comfortable bidding up," he said.
Mr Wood said the Pathfinder bulls were an impressive line-up of Angus and "hard to go past for their consistency".
"The are soft and easy fleshing with plenty of capacity," he said.
"They are chock-a-block full of performance not only in their Breedplan figures but also phenotype wise when you look at them in the pens or in the ring."
Stud principal Nick Moyle was thrilled to see so many repeat clients among the 72 registered bidders and said it was a "fantastic result."
"It is just nice to see bulls keep going back into the same operations year after year and the feedback we have received has been very encouraging," he said.
Mr Moyle said breeding Angus cattle was their "hobby and passion" with a simple aim to have the most profitable customers in the business.
'To do that we aim for them to have a herd of easy calving, high growth cattle that produce thick, heavy docile weaners that grow on but above all they (the cattle) must be fertile and easy doing to maintain a low cost of production," he said.
The stud will offer another 126 bulls at its Vic sale at Gazette, Penshurst, on February 27.